You always go to it.
“The fundamental difference between winners & losers:
Winners travel to environments where success can be created because they know success doesnt come to them, you always go to it.
Losers sit on their hands & play victim, searching for sympathy & handouts that arent coming.”
-Ray Zingler on X
I can’t remember where I saw the quote, but I remember absorbing it as a young person:
“Success doesn’t come to you. You go to it.”
That quote from Marva Collins is simple, but incredibly profound.
And the quote had immediate and compounding benefits in my life. I still focus and apply those simple words, today.
When I was 14, I wanted to start a lawn mowing business.
I had a couple yards on my street, but I wanted to do the damn thing and make some real money.
So, like any wantchapreneur, I made business cards, fliers, and pinned ads at our local neighborhood pool.
This took hours.
I remember finishing, and excitedly waiting for the calls for my services to come flooding in.
But that didn’t happen.
I think I got 1 or 2 calls, out of 100’s of fliers.
My dad convinced me that was still good and encouraged me to take immense pride in those 2 additional yards I picked up.
But eventually that wasn’t good enough for me.
And that’s when the idea hit me.
I was mowing a yard on the corner and noticed the next-door neighbor’s house needed mowing so I knocked on the door, covered in grass clippings and sweat, and simply explained, “I’m right here, ready to go, and I’d love to take care of your lawn.”
The man looked outside at the job I’d just done, a fresh cut, with clean edge lines, and a properly blown yard, and told me to “have at it, kid.”
Thinking I was Mark Cuban, I mowed that guys yard better than any I’d ever done mowed before. I autographed it with excellence.
This taught me, “f*ck my fliers” (or in today’s world, parents Facebook posts).. Go door knocking.
Put yourself out there, tell a white lie if you must, “I’m mowing the neighbor’s yard, want me to take care of yours?” (Even if you’re not, most people will appreciate the hustle and give you a chance.)
I learned, at 14, success is on the other side of being willing to be told no by strangers.
At 33 today, the same is true.
It’ll be true at 63, too.
Go get it.
It ain’t coming to you.
